The North Jersey Jihad Connection

For those who remember back to the 1993 WTC bombing, North Jersey has long been a nexus of jihad activity. The 1993 WTC bombers plotted from Jersey City, and used the proximity to New York City to plot and carry out their nefarious and deadly acts.

The proximity to the City continues to draw jihadis to the area, and the Joint Terrorism Task Force continues to track terrorists in the area.

The FBI's elite Joint Terrorism Task Force in Newark says it is not only monitoring a number of North Jersey residents with ties to al-Qaida, but that agents have quietly "disrupted" their activities and even deported a few.

These glimpses into North Jersey's war on terrorism, from a series of interviews with task force leaders, come on the heels of revelations last summer that Bin Laden's terror network had regained strength. But that rebuilding was thought to have taken place overseas.

This is the first time since the 9/11 attacks that FBI counterterror officials have revealed an al-Qaida presence in North Jersey.

"There are definitely facilitators in this state," said Kevin Cruise, the veteran FBI counterterror agent who directs Newark's 100-member terrorism task force of FBI and CIA agents as well as state police and even local beat cops.

One of Cruise's deputies was even more specific.

"There are people in your county who are affiliated with known al-Qaida members overseas," said Jack Jupin, the FBI agent who heads the counterterror squad for Bergen County.

Cruise, who supervised FBI investigations of terrorist bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa and the USS Cole before taking over the Newark task force, cautioned that his agents have no information about an imminent attack here. But he said several al-Qaida sympathizers would try if given the chance.

Deporting a few? Could it be that illegal aliens are engaged in terrorism or linking up with those who may be conducting plots? Based on this piece, I'd say that's exactly what is going on.

Border control and dealing with the illegal alien issue continues to be a soft underbelly to national security, and refraining from cracking down on illegal aliens nationwide may have dire consequences if terrorists take advantage of the lax security efforts.